j u s t o u t ▼ ju ris 7, 1 9 9 6 ▼ 3
just out
s in c e 1 9 8 3
steppin’ out
PUBLISHER AND EDITOR
Renée LaChance
contents
VOL. 13 NO. 15 JUNE 7, 1996
ASSISTANT PUBLISHER
Ten Ventura
FEATURE
COPY EDITORS
Kelly M. Bryan
Karen Kantor
A tale of two “citys”
The City o f P ortland wants to
close The City N ightclub
REPORTERS
fnga Sorensen
Bob Roehr
Rex Wockner
(p- 21)
CALENDAR EDITOR
DEPARTMENTS
Kristine Chat wood
PHOTOGRAPHER
World news
Linda Kliewer
South A frican Archbishop
Tutu writes in support o f gays
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
(P-
Meg Grace
5)
National news
ADVERTISING REPS
C. Jay Wilson Jr.
Marty Davis
Q ueers nationw ide rejoice
o ver A m endm ent 2 victory
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Local news
(pp. 6-13)
E. Ann Hinds
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Rupert Kinnard
FORMATTER
13th International AIDS Candlelight Memorial and Mobilization: Mourners gathered May 19 at Pioneer Courthouse
Square in Portland to remember the loved and lost.
G ay and lesbian candidates
take a breather before
N ovem ber
.
(p- 15)
Christopher Cuttone
COLUM NS
TYPESETTER
Christopher Cuttone
Independently
speaking
DISTRIBUTION
Ambling Bear
Rachel Ebora
Helen Ford
CONTRIBUTORS
Kelly M. Bryan
Kristine Chatwood
Beren deMotier
Rachel Ebora
Marvin Liebman
Lee Lynch
Will O’Bryan
Richard Shumate
Daniel Vaillancourt
C. Jay Wilson Jr.
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P reju d ice loses big
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Amendment 2 is a strong defense against
prejudicial forces fo r gay men and lesbians
by Richard D. Mohr
nock me over with a feather. Like many gay legal
writers, I was worried over the pokiness of the
Supreme Court’s announcement of its decision on
the constitutionality of Colorado’s 1992 anti-gay
Amendment 2 referendum. The gay legal commu
nity expected that, even in the case of a victory, the court would
not speak in aclear, unified voice, that the victory would merely
be technical. Not so.
Justice Kennedy’s opinion for six justices could hardly have
been stronger in its defense of gay men and lesbians from
prejudicial forces. Our win in Romer v$. Evans specifically
knocked down as unconstitutional the anti-gay referendum
initiatives that have swept the country, from Anita Bryant’s
1978 Save Our Children campaign through Cincinnati’s 1993
Issue 3 Amendment. But the case portends major positive
changes in gay law and politics more generally.
If the decision is applied consistently in future cases, virtu
ally all anti-gay discrimination by governments will be struck
down. Why? Kennedy’s brief but pointed opinion basically
holds that governments cannot simply accumulate anti-gay
attitudes, hostilities, hatreds and phobias in policy or law and
also claim the laws and policies are rational. Laws “bom of
animosity toward the class of persons affected,” laws that do
nothing more than cobble together and give voice to prejudices,
will be struck down. The court also showed a robust willingness
to examine the rationales that governments give for their anti
gay laws to see whether they aren’t simply fronts for prejudice.
Virtually all current legal burdens on gay men and lesbians
appeal directly or indirectly to prejudicial forces. Take judicial
decisions that have removed custody of kids from their lesbian
mothers on the ground that social recriminations that come to
the lesbian mother will damage the child. These decisions
simply bootstrap policy off of anti-gay prejudice, and now look
to be unconstitutional. In 1986 the Supreme Court had upheld
anti-gay sodomy laws solely on the ground that they give voice
to popular morality. Again, such thinking now no longer looks
K
to be good law.
And take two biggies: gays in the military and same-
gender marriage. The military defends the legal ban on gay
men and lesbians solely on the ground that nongay soldiers
are made uptight by the presence of gay soldiers. The ban is
based on nothing but anti-gay attitudes and so, too, looks ripe
for judicial scrutiny. In mid-May, President Clinton’s press
secretary explained that while Clinton was strongly opposed
to same-gender marriage, Clinton couldn’t give any reasons
for his opposition. Well, strongly held, quite specific beliefs
for which one can gi ve no reasons are exactly those which are
prejudicial. Clinton is typical on the issue of same-gender
marriage; opposition to it is nothing but prejudice on stilts—
and so now judicially suspect.
The opinion is important politically as well. It is written
by a very conservative, Republican-appointed judge. Prior to
his appointment to the Supreme Court, while an appellate
judge on the ninth federal circuit, Kennedy heard four gay
cases and voted against gays all four times; in a case that
blended marriage and immigration issues, he wrote a vicious
and dismissive anti-gay opinion. Clearly conservatives can
change and grow. Indeed, a “constitutional” majority of the
six judges in the Romer opinion are Republican appointees:
Kennedy and Souter were appointed by Bush, O ’Connor by
Reagan, and Stevens by Ford.
We have less to fear from conservatives and Republicans
than most gay and lesbian activists assume. In his three-man
dissent. Justice Scalia rants about sexual degeneracy and
decay, but his rages— those of the Christian right wing— are
impotent. The gay and lesbian movement should stop being
obsessed by the far right. In riveting its focus there, it blinds
itself to the future that is unfolding before us—with the
Supreme Court’s welcome assist.
Richard D. Mohr is the author o/Gays/Justice: A Study
of Ethics, Society and Law.
Log Cabin lays an egg
(p. 17)
I kid you not
A re we people o r perverts?
(p- 19)
Stonewall baby
Revisiting the party
(p. 40)
Amazon trail
Pride com es in steps
(p- 41)
ARTS
Cinema
The Oregon Gay and
Lesbian Film F estival is a
gay old fa m ily reunion
(p. 31)
Interview
Greg Louganis is still
m aking waves
(p. 35)
Theater
Buried C hild unearths the
blighted A m erican dream ;
Norm al Heart still
packs a punch
(pp. 36-37)
Entertainment
P G M C goes on Freedom Tour
(p. 38)
Tongue in groove
M arla Glenn w ill m elt you
(p. 39)